


Feels Like Home

by myemergence



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Buck makes questionable choices, Christopher Diaz is a National Treasure, Fluff, Fluff 2020, M/M, Pre-Relationship, but loves the Diaz boys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:27:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23862274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myemergence/pseuds/myemergence
Summary: He steps inside and greets the woman, “Uh, hey, my name is Evan Buckley, I’m here for Christopher Diaz.”The woman, Sue according to the nameplate on her desk, frowns as she looks down at a paper. “I don’t see that he was sent in with a note today.”“Sorry about that,” Buck hesitates. “I think his excuse was forgotten on the counter this morning.” He rushes into burning buildings without hesitation, he’s been crushed by a ladder truck and survived a tsunami. Despite that, somehow the disapproving look on the woman’s face makes Buck want to ask for forgiveness.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley & Christopher Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Comments: 25
Kudos: 613
Collections: Fluff 2020: A Multifandom Fluff Meme





	Feels Like Home

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [BlackRose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackRose/pseuds/BlackRose) in the [Fluff2020](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Fluff2020) collection. 



> Many more Buckley-Diaz inspired fics to come, but I hope you enjoy this one BlackRose!

Eddie wasn’t going to be mad at him, was he? 

If Eddie had seen the way that Christopher looked at Buck with those big puppy-dog eyes, he would have caved too. Then again, Eddie is who he inherited the puppy-dog eyes from, so maybe they have no effect on him by now. 

Needless to say, puppy-dog eyes are how Buck finds himself pulling his Jeep into the parking lot at the elementary school, waiting for the receptionist to buzz him into the building.

He steps inside and greets the woman, “Uh, hey, my name is Evan Buckley, I’m here for Christopher Diaz.” 

The woman, Sue according to the nameplate on her desk, frowns as she looks down at a paper. “I don’t see that he was sent in with a note today.”

“Sorry about that,” Buck hesitates. “I think his excuse was forgotten on the counter this morning.” He rushes into burning buildings without hesitation, he’s been crushed by a ladder truck and survived a tsunami. Despite that, somehow the disapproving look on the woman’s face makes Buck want to ask for forgiveness. For a moment he feels like he is back in grade school, being sent to the principal’s office yet again. He rubs his sweaty palms against his jeans.

Sue barely looks up from the paper and holds out her hand, her glasses resting low on the nose. She checks to see if he is on the authorized pickup list which he has been for months now. “Drivers license?” Buck shuffles, grabbing his wallet from his back pocket and hands the scrutinizing woman his identification. “I’ll call down to his teacher.”

An agonizing ten minutes later the jailbreak is a success. Buck smiles over at the boy as they settle into the Jeep. “Bucky! Dad didn’t tell me that you were getting me from school.”

Buck pulls out his phone. “I just missed you.” His gaze shifts to the joyful boy that occupies the back seat and he smiles as he settles into the high back booster. Buck spent a lot of time researching the best carseats on the market, selecting one that would be a good fit for Christopher. Eddie seemed genuinely touched that Buck took the time to be so thorough, especially since Christopher wasn’t actually his son.

Buck hesitates over Eddie’s contact in his cell phone, looking away from Chris. He doesn’t want Eddie to somehow find out that Chris has been unexpectedly picked up from school and launch into a panic, which he knows Eddie will. He takes a breath and considers what to say, fingers hovering for several long seconds. It’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission, right?

**Buck: [12:17 pm]** I picked up Chris from school

**Eddie: [12:18 pm]** You mean you’re picking him up from school today?

**Buck:[12:18 pm]** …

**Eddie:[12:18 pm]** Buck

Buck doesn’t respond for a solid minute because he knows what is coming. Eddie is going to be pissed. He curses under his breath when his phone starts ringing in his hand. He hesitates, then brings the phone up to his ear. “Eddie, you can’t be mad.”

“Oh, I can’t? Eddie asks, and Buck can practically see the way that his eyebrows raise at the question, challenging Buck.

Buck sighs. “Listen if you had heard him last night at movie night… he said I never spend time with him anymore.”

Buck listens to the sound of Eddie’s groan on the other end, a sound that Buck hopes is one of defeat. “I appreciate that you want to spend time with Christopher, I do. But he still has  _ hours _ of school left and he has guilted you into cutting class, and he’s still in elementary school. Buck, you see him all the time.”

“It’s been almost a month since I’ve done anything with him alone, so he’s not totally wrong. Look, I got all of his school work and I’ll make sure it gets done today, okay Eds?” Buck glances at Chris in the rearview mirror and smiles at Chris. “Tell me you’re not mad.”

“Buck,” Eddie starts, “I’m not mad.” His voice sounds warm, and Buck smiles as his heart does that weird flutter. “But let’s save the next bonding day for after school hours, alright? Oh, he has an appointment at four that Carla was going to take him to-”

“I’ve got it,” Buck assures him with a smile. “Text me the address, and we’ll meet you at home for dinner?” Did he just say  _ home _ when he was talking about Eddie’s place? Buck inwardly cringes at the slip, despite the warmth that settles in his chest at the sound of it.

“Yeah, I’ll see you at home for dinner.” There was such normalcy and familiarity in Eddie’s tone, like referring to Eddie’s home as Buck’s was the most normal thing in the world. Buck thinks of the conversation that he had with Maddie in Eddie’s kitchen not too long ago, and he feels a smile spreading across his lips as they say their goodbyes.

Buck grins as he looks back at Chris. “You ready to do this, little man?” 

“Yeah!” Chris woops from the back. Buck laughs and turns up the radio as their adventures begin.

___________________________________

Buck isn’t completely sure where they are going. They talk about video games, movies, and school as they drive around somewhat aimlessly. As always the conversation with Christopher is easy.

They pick up takeout from one of Buck’s favorite burger joints, Hollywood Burger. Christopher begs to open the bag in the Jeep, but greasy fingerprints aside, Buck has a plan and he convinces Chris that they can wait a few minutes. They pull up to a park with a playground, the quiet in the surrounding park calming.

Buck helps Christopher out of his seat before Buck grabs a blanket from the back. “You ready, Superman?”

Christopher grins, “Yeah.”

Buck lays out the blanket and they settle on it. “Okay, here’s your Hollywood Classic and tater tots.” He sets Christopher’s food in front of them and repeats the same process, taking out his burger and fries.

“Buck?” Christopher looks up at him, his eyebrows pinched together with worry.

“What’s going on, little man?”

Christopher eats a tater tot thoughtfully before he speaks. “Was my dad mad?”

Buck smiles. “Nah, he just was a little worried. It’s all set, I promise.”

They eat their lunch before they both lay back against the blanket and look up at the sky. Buck watches Christopher with a smile as the boy rests his head back against his hands, and Buck copies the motion. “Do you ever look at the clouds and figure out what they look like?” Chris asks.

“I haven’t done that since I was a kid,” Buck admits as his eyes shift to the blue sky above and the random spattering of fluffy white clouds again. “Tell me what you see.”

“You first.”

Buck pauses, “Ok. That one… looks like an ice cream cone.” Christopher giggles as he shakes his head no.

“No, it doesn’t.” If Buck is being honest, the reason that he picked Chris up from school today had as much to do with himself as it did Christopher. Lately, he has been worrying and overthinking, getting stuck in his own head. When he spends time with Christopher it all seems to fade away. He can just spend time with Christopher and know that everything else is just a little bit smaller. Well, except for the fact that he does truly want to be a part of the Diaz household, as absurd as that is.

“No? Then tell me what it looks like.”

“That cloud looks like a t-rex,” Chris tells him matter-of-factly. Buck looks at Christopher and then back up at the cloud in question with a thoughtful look on his face. But he can’t help it.

“A t-rex?” Buck laughs, “I don’t know, bud. I’m pretty sure it looks like an ice cream cone.” Christopher breaks out into another peal of laughter, and Buck struggles to remember a feeling of his heart being so full before. He tries to pinpoint the moment when Christopher and Eddie became so important to him, this defining point in his life.

He can’t. They came into his life suddenly when Eddie joined one-eighteen, and just as things changed little by little and his friendship with Eddie grew, they changed his heart gradually, too. Buck began wanting to spend his spare time with them, enjoying their movie nights and simple days like this one with Chris where they can get lost in something as simple as looking up at the clouds.

“You’re not very good at this. I think you need to practice.” Christopher told him, leveling him with a serious look.

Buck’s brow pinches together as he looks at Christopher. “You think I’m bad?” He challenges lightly, a smile tugging at the corner of his lip before he reaches forward and tickles Christopher’s sides. “It’s an ice cream cone!” He announces.

Christopher squirms and giggles loudly, and Buck laughs easily in turn.

His heart floats up to the sky.

___________________________________

The afternoon is spent at the park, and they nearly lose track of time before Buck takes Christopher to his appointment at the physical therapist. The appointment goes fairly easily, Chris is cooperative through the entire appointment and Buck sets up the next visit for Eddie, slipping the appointment card into his wallet.

They settle into the jeep before he glances down at the clock. He told Eddie that he’d have Chris home by dinner and it’s a little after five now. As much as he wants to squeeze in another adventure with Christopher for today, he knows that he’ll have Christopher home too late. He’s already asking Eddie to not be upset with him for taking Chris out of school for the day.

They pull into Eddie’s driveway at 5:47, and Buck helps Christopher get his things and follows him into the house. “Uh, hey Eddie.” Buck says unsurely as he sets Christopher’s bookbag down once they’re inside.

“Hey, how did everything go today?” Eddie asks. 

“It was fun Dad!” Christopher exclaims. “Buck should pick me up from school early  _ everyday _ .”

The look on Eddie’s face is not amused, and Buck scratches the back of his head as he shifts uncomfortably. “Hey Chris, why don’t you double-check and make sure all your school work is done?” he suggests and Christopher obliges as he pulls his take home folder out, moving to the dining room table and leaving Eddie and Buck alone. 

When Christopher is out of hearing range, Eddie follows behind Buck, says, “So it only took one day for you to have him wanting to skip out of school everyday.”

“Eddie,” Buck sighs and runs a hand over his face. He steps into the kitchen and sees some fruit that Eddie’s already cut, a bag of Doritos, deli meat, and bread out on the counter. He turns and looks at Eddie quizzically, his train of thought effectively derailed. “What’s this?”

Eddie looks at him like he’s an idiot. “Dinner.”

Buck laughs and then clamps his mouth shut with the look that Eddie gives him. “Dinner just usually indicates that there is actual cooking involved.” 

“We try to avoid fires when possible.” Eddie deadpans. “Anyway, how was his physical therapy?”

Buck decides that eating a sandwich, chips, and fruit for dinner is better than the alternative of having Eddie mad at him about something else. He knows Eddie said he wasn’t mad at him earlier when they talked on the phone, but he can’t help but feel that isn’t the complete truth. “Physical therapy was great, he did really well. They sent home a few new stretches for him to incorporate. I put the paper in his bookbag so it wouldn’t get lost. I can show you the stretches if you want. Oh, before I forget...” Buck trails off and pulls an appointment card out of his wallet and hands it to Eddie. “I scheduled his next appointment since they said the next few weeks were booking up pretty quickly.” 

“You booked his next appointment?”

”-was i not supposed to?”

“You didn’t ask me what my schedule was. I usually take him when I’m able to, today was just a fluke, so Carla was going to take him.”

“I know that, Eddie.” Buck pauses and looks at Eddie. “I knew you were busy, so I just scheduled it for when I knew I had time off just in case - I can take him if you’re working that day. Or,” he fumbles with the words, “or you can, ya know, reschedule.”

“You would take him on your day off?” Eddie asks and there’s an inflection in his voice — as if he’s surprised — and something else that Buck can’t quite place.

“Of course I would. I’d do anything for that kid.” Buck says. He doesn’t say,  _ or for you _ , though he definitely thinks it. “Do you want my help with dinner?” he hopes that having something to do will distract him from all of his feelings that he definitely shouldn’t be having about his best friend. Thoughts of Eddie’s home being his, of being happier in his presence, of looking at Christopher as more of a son than just his friend’s kid.

He craves the warmth of Eddie’s tone and light chuckle, the way he affectionately rolls his eyes when Buck does something completely off the cuff or impulsive. If there are other things that he craves, well he can keep those to himself for longer if he has to. As long as he gets to share his time with Eddie and Chris, he can keep his feelings tucked away if that’s what it takes.

“You can grab the plates,” Eddie says, and Buck doesn’t have to ask where they are. He grabs the plates and the two of them work beside each other with their usual ease as they make the sandwiches. “Was it worth the risk of jail-breaking him for the day?” he smirks.

“I didn’t want you to be mad at me,” Buck admits, his gaze shifting to where Christopher sits at the table as he double-checks his work. “But I’d be lying if I said I regretted the time with him.”

“If you take him out of school again without telling me, I will kick your ass,” Eddie says seriously, setting down the knife in the sink as their plates are prepared.

“I’m sorry Ed—”

Eddie hands him a plate, his eyes dancing with humor. “—You are welcome here anytime, if you want to spend some time with Christopher, then you can stop over. Consider it an open door policy.” Buck feels Eddie’s hand on his shoulder, and there is a warmth that radiates through him even after Eddie has brushed past him. “Christopher, dinner’s ready.” Eddie sets their plates down on the table, and Buck follows a minute later with their drinks.

Buck sits and pops a Dorito in his mouth as he looks across the table at Christopher. “Dad, Buck is so bad at cloud watching.”

“Oh, here we go.” Buck laughs easily, shaking his head.

“How can someone be bad at cloud watching?” Eddie asks before he takes a sip from his glass.

“He thought a t-rex was an ice cream cone!” Christopher exclaims as he opens up his sandwich and places the Doritos inside before crunching the sandwich closed. Buck watches Eddie do the same.

“I think my cloud watching skills is a way lesser topic than both of your  _ disgusting _ eating habits.” The laughter and conversation that follows is easy and right, like always.

They say that home is where the heart is, and if that’s true, Buck is always at home with the Diaz boys.


End file.
